House of Burgesses In April, 1619, GOVERNOR GEORGE YEARDLEY arrived in Virginia from England and announced that the Virginia Company had voted to abolish martial law and create a legislative assembly. It became the House of Burgesses — the first legislative assembly in the American colonies. The first assembly met on July 30, 1619, in the church at Jamestown.

"Give me liberty, or give me death!" is a quotation attributed to Patrick Henry from a speech he made to the Virginia Convention in 1775, at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, he is credited with having swung the balance in convincing the Virginia House of Burgesses to pass a resolution delivering the Virginia troops to the Revolutionary War. Patrick Henry is one of my heros.

Jefferson was a man of many talents. He was the author of the Declaration of American Independence, a founding father of the United States and the country's third president. Thomas Jefferson was born in Shadwell, Virginia, on 13 April 1743 into a wealthy landowning family. He studied law and practiced until the early 1770s. He served as a magistrate and was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1769 to 1775.

George Washington as President-President George Washington The lone medal he wears was from the Society of Cincinatti, founded in 1783 for officers who served in the Revolutionary War. The ceremonial sword is reputed to have been sent to Washington in 1780 by Frederick the Great with a verbal message: “From the oldest General in the World to the Greatest”.

St. John’s Episcopal Church was built in Richmond in 1741. In 1775, Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Peyton Randolph and other important Virginia delegates met in the church for the Second Virginia Convention of the House of Burgesses, where Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech: “Give me Liberty or Give me Death.” The delegates were so impressed by the speech that they decided to organize a Virginia militia, which led the way to Revolutionary War.